my comments to the agenda for the September 19, 2011 Executive Committee meeting on item 2011.EX10.1, Core Service Review� Final Report to Toronto's Executive Committee

On behalf of myself and along with the hundreds of thousands of residents who voted for and support the Mayor, his Executive Team members and those councilors who comprehend and realize that Our City should not have to pay, nor is it the responsibility of the Council to pay for goods and services that fall directly within the Constitutional and legal responsibility areas of the provincial and or federal government, for programs that involve income redistribution.

Most taxpayers acknowledge and agree that Toronto has a financial operating and capital budget crisis cause by spending, borrowing and deficits going back to 13 years after amalgamation. But at the same time,

City staff in 1998 has gone from 45,860 employees to over 53,000 in 2011 and increase of 16%.

As you all know the City budget has skyrocketed 184% from $5 Billion to $9.2 Billion while inflation for the same period increased 25.21% an annualized average of just 2.29208%.

The official census confirms that our population as of 2006 was 2,503,281 or an increase of just 1% from the 2001 census population of 2,481,494. The city’s official confirmed census for the population in 2011 will be known by all in 2012.   

We have outlined below some suggestion of accounting changes for budget preparations, expense reductions and staff and benefit changes for the committees consideration and perhaps it would be appropriate at some time for the members of the Executive and City council to openly and transparently inform the taxpayers of Toronto as to how, what and where the provincial government has provided the tools for our City to thrive in this current shaky and on going down turn in the global economy that has made our City of Toronto more fiscally sustainable during the past year and proceeding five years?

Along with an honest, transparent explanation and reasons why it is that the provincial government mandates services, programs and procedures that our City must administer does not get reimbursed at 100% of the total costs of these provincially mandated services?  

The following recommendations and suggestions are for the consideration by the Mayor, Executive and Council.

1.          A 1.7% City binding bylaw be introduced in 2012 that would forever restrict the combined total number for annual, full time, part time, seasonable, union and non union employees, employed by the City be annually no greater or exceed this 1.7% allowable number of employees to be employed by the City on a annual basis. The base figure for calculating the 1.7% would be the federal government’s population census for the City of Toronto only and as taken every five years.

2.           An immediate combined employee layoff of 8,500 employees through a combined program of, attrition, eligible buyout packages or actual permanent layoffs to take effect January 1, 2012 and link all and any merit pay to and individual employee’s annual performance.  

3.          As over 70% of the City’s budget is for public transportation within the city borders but continues to be used on a daily basis as a service by hundreds of thousands of non City residents or City taxpayers the City should consider the following options.

             A.  For 2012 a one fare for adults, seniors and students of $4.00 and a $2.00 child fare which would be $2.00 less than the $6.00 equivalent in dollar fare currently charged by the more over crowded, cleaner and efficient bus and subway system in the world class city of London..

             B.  An outright privatization of the operations, management and service of the TTC.

             C.  One transit authority for the GTHA which encompasses the needs of commuters from Oshawa to Hamilton incorporated and harmonized with the Go Train operations and operated and funded through run by Metrolinx with a Board consisting of elected members from the City of Toronto, Region, provincial and federal governments and out of the control of Metro council. Without a lasting and final political commitment from the province and federal government’s any transit system within the GTHA shall not succeed.

4.       Reverse the existing golden severance package deal for councilors that includes a one year paid salary and benefits for extended health and dental care, life insurance LTD and mileage benefits for one full year after a councilor has been defeated at the polls and voted out of office. Once they have been voted out of office it is impossible and unnecessary for them to perform their previous elected duties and the City would be exempt from paying at all under existing labour laws. All defeated councillors should be limited to a severance package of a maximum of 13 weeks of only a salary.

5.       The 2012 City budgeting process for all departments, agencies, commissions Boards etc. should be changed from the current outdated historical incremental budgeting system in which the new budget starts with the balance at least equal to the previous year’s total balance or estimate. A Zero base budgeting process commences with the budget development system in which all departments, services and programs within the budget start with a heading of zero and detects inflated budgets and has a greater political control over executives, managers, services and programs. It further assists in channelizing the City’s limited revenues from low priority to high priority areas.

6.      The City’s current mileage rate benefits for all employee should be reduced from its current rate to a maximum of .35 cents per km with the 2012 budget process  and implemented as a condition of continuing employment with the City for all employees, union, non union, seasonable, part time, full time, executive and managers alike. 

7.       The salaries of all senior and top bureaucrats should be frozen for the 2012 budget process and until they manage to come up with some meaningful and enlightened ways and means for the ensuring the long term financial ability for the City to meet its debt and operating and capital budgets obligation. If they cannot do this then the Mayor, his Executive team and Council must find the individuals who can.

8.       Redeploy 30 officers from the police mounted unit to other community policing duties when preparing the 2012 budget. This would leave the mounted unit with 13 officers and 18 horses from the current 43 officers and 28 horses without reducing the number of actual officers in the force. 

9.       Through attrition the civilian component of the police services should be reduced by 5 per cent each year for the next 4 years and then caped at that number.

10.    For the current and future capital needs and operating costs  of the City’s Toronto Hydro our City should consider that Toronto Hydro secure venture capital by forming a limited partnership, a joint venture, selling 45% of its shares through private placement, self underwriting and or a direct public stock offering to access capital, new management and operating funds.

11.    The Toronto Zoo another agency corporation of our City should also consider the possibilities of selling 45% of its shares through private placement, self underwriting etc. and or a direct public stock offering.

12.    The City’s retirement defined benefit pension plan must be changed and fully incorporated with the Canada Pension Plan and employee contributions equally matching contributions and not to exceed 4% of salary as a condition of continuing employment with the City for all employees, union, non union, seasonable, part time ,full time, executive and managers alike. 

13.    The City’s employee benefit package should be changed to be on a 50/50 co payment basis and the maternity leave top up benefit should be reduced to 50% of salary for 25 weeks and the on site subsidized daycare for preschool aged children should be on a maximum subsidization of 25% being paid by the City and 75% paid by employees and also as a condition of continuing employment with the City for all employees, union, non union, seasonable, part time, full time, executive and managers alike. 

14.      Mayor Ford’s suggestion for matching the 22 provincial constituency boundaries by reducing the current 44 City ward boundaries and the number of councillors from 44 to 22 should be implemented by the province prior to the next City election in 2014. In the meantime councilor’s and the Mayor’s annual salary should be reduced by 6% for the next 5 years commencing with the reduction in the 2012 budget process for same.

15.      Commencing with the 2012 budget process all City tenders and all bid requests for City contracts or work etc. should be open to all contractors and corporations be they employ union or non union employees and the union wage or far wage policy should be rescinded to stop the present discrimination against non unionized contractors and workers to ensure greater transparency, openness, fairness and cost efficiency.

16.     The council should ask the province to allow the City to amend the Property Tax Rebate Program for Vacant Commercial and Industrial Buildings to stop the current open ended period clause to a maximum lifetime tax relief for such properties of 2 year in total, unless the owner of the property has made an application or has an ongoing application before the proper City departments for a RE Zoning, Re Development or Extensive Renovations.

The City must put aside the dark dystopia of the feminist imagination found in such allegories as Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and ensure that the 2012 City Library budget is reduced by at least 15% and that certain library operation where warranted are amalgamated with other library facilities and some closed and the properties offered to developers for the much needed social house units throughout the City. 

We all must remember that almost every public and high school, university and college within the City also have library facilities.  

With warmest regards and respectfully submitted, I remain,

PeterClarke

Toronto/North York/Willowdale

The Ongoing Attempted Destruction of God’s Teachings by the Party Politics of Totalitarianism for Social Justice within a Political New Religion of World Order.

The quest for ideal individualism shall always defeat any re-introduction of a new political world order for Social Justice which is just a guise of 21st Century Socialism, Fascism, Nazism, Communism, Radical Islamic Jihadists Extremists or Dictatiorships.  

^{http://utile.autre.net/livre/biblekjvl.html}

^{A new article,The Ongoing Attempted Destruction of God's Teachings by Today's Political Party's, by Peter Clarke, is coming soon.}

South African White farmers 'being wiped out' by Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape

Over 3,000 have been killed since 1994. Now the ANC is accused of fanning the hate.

Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape

THE gunmen walked silently through the orchard. Skirting a row of burnt-out tires, set ablaze months earlier to keep the budding fruit from freezing, they drew their old .38 revolvers.

Inside his farmhouse Pieter Cillier, 57, slept with his 14-year-old daughter Nikki at his side. His 12-year-old son JD was having a sleepover with two teenagers in an adjoining room.

As the intruders broke in, the farmer woke. He rushed to stop them, only to be shot twice in the chest.

In his death throes he would have seen his killers and then his children standing over him, screaming and crying.

The attackers, who were drug addicts, simply disappeared into the night. Cillier’s murder, at Christmas, was barely reported in the local press. It was, after all, everyday news.

Death has stalked South Africa’s white farmers for years. The number murdered since the end of apartheid in 1994 has passed 3,000.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe, a campaign of intimidation that began in 2000 has driven more than 4,000 commercial farmers off their land, but has left fewer than two dozen dead.

The vulnerability felt by South Africa’s 40,000 remaining white farmers intensified earlier this month when Julius Malema, head of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) youth league, opened a public rally by singing Dubula Ibhunu, or Shoot the Boer, an apartheid-era anthem, that was banned by the high court last week.

Malema’s timing could hardly have been worse. Last weekend in the remote farming community of Colenso, in KwaZulu-Natal, Nigel Ralfe, 71, a dairy farmer, and his wife Lynette, 64, were gunned down as they milked their cows. He was critically injured; she died.

That same day a 46-year-old Afrikaner was shot through his bedroom window as he slept at his farm near Potchefstroom. A few days later a 61-year-old was stabbed to death in his bed at a farm in Limpopo.

The resurrection of Dubula Ibhunu, defended by senior ANC officials as little more than a sentimental old struggle song, has been greeted with alarm by Tom Stokes, of the opposition Democratic Alliance. He said the ANC’s continued association with the call to kill Boers could not be justified.

“Any argument by the ANC that this song is merely a preservation of struggle literature rings hollow in the face of farming families who have lost wives, mothers and grandmothers,” he added.

He was supported by Anton Alberts of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party: “Malema’s comments are creating an atmosphere that is conducive to those who want to commit murder. He’s an accessory to the wiping out of farmers in South Africa.”

Rossouw Cillier, Pieter’s brother, bristled as he pointed to the bullet holes in the panelled kitchen of the farmhouse near Ceres in the Western Cape. “They shot him through the fridge from the back door — the bullets came straight through here, into his heart. He never had a chance,” he said.

A successful apple and pear grower, he believes his community is living on borrowed time: “More white farmers have been killed than British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yes, we are at war here.”

His brother’s farmhouse is now shuttered and empty. “I can’t spend time here. We’ll have to sell. This farm has been in our family for generations but it must go. Who’ll manage it? The children will never come back here. They held their own father as he died in front of them. Will they ever get over that?”

As we walked across the orchard, fruit destined for the shelves of Tesco and Sainsbury’s in the UK was still being picked. A tractor passed a 10ft cross erected in honour of the murdered farmer.

“It lights up at night,” Rossouw said. “My brother was a religious man. It’s all that’s left of him here.”

Across South Africa many farmers feel endangered. In Northern Province a tribute has been created beneath an enormous sign with the stark Afrikaans word “plaasmoorde” — farm killings. Thousands of white wooden crosses have been planted across a mountainside, one for each fallen farmer.

Recently the government’s department of rural development has been airing proposals to nationalize productive farmland as a “national asset”. Critics claim it is designed to deflect criticism from the ruling ANC’s failures.

“It’s a lot easier talking about nationalizing farms than building decent houses, making clean water come out of taps or honoring promises to redistribute farm plots to millions of landless poor,” said a spokesman for AgriSA, the farmers’ union.

On the outskirts of Ceres there are few groceries in the township store — tins of pilchards, baked beans, some dried biscuits. A group of teenage boys sit on the burnt-out remains of a Ford Escort. This is where Cillier’s killers gathered, in a shebeen, a drinking club, where they fortified themselves with cheap hooch before they set off to rob him. They escaped with nothing.

According to Rossouw Cillier the most telling detail is that his brother was unarmed when they attacked. “If we brandish a weapon, we’ll go to prison, not them. What did they gain from this murder? It was an act as pointless as their lives.”

Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape as he reported 

 

Ontario Works Program Requirements Lacking Permanent Residence and Canadian Citizenship Eligibility Requirement?

Apparently at present the main eligibility requirement for people seeking to receive benefits of financial assistance and other such program and service is that the person be living in Ontario without first having to be a Canadian citizen or legally landed immigrant.

Experts put the number of undocumented immigrants in Canada at between 175,000 and 250,000 people.  While it is illegal for companies in Canada to hire undocumented workers this law is rarely enforced because of Toronto’s  “Don’t Ask” policy.

Many illegal immigrants in Canada are failed refugee claimants who never leave the country, or people who overstay visas. In Toronto and Vancouver there are a large number of undocumented people who are working in the underground economy.

It further appears that the city under the previous administration ran up a bill in excess of $53 Million dollars for services that are over and above the mandatory health services required by the province.

To date the province according to Andrew Chornenky has paid out over $135 Million to the city for welfare alone this year. However it seems that the previous city administration was asking for an additional payment of some $35 Million for what I am not sure?

At present the city thanks to taxes paid by Toronto taxpayers  helps with additional health costs for people living in Toronto that the province does not reimburse because one assumes they were not mandated service that the province is willing to pay for and rightfully so.

Toronto taxpayers presently fund such services as 

1.    Ontario Disability Support Program,

2.   Dental services,

3.   Eyeglasses and eye care,

4.   Health benefits for people leaving Ontario Works,

5.   Medical supplies and special devices,

6.   Medical transportation,

7.   Medication,

8.   Physiotherapy services,

9.   Special diets,

10. Other health related resources? 

The question that must be answered, if we are paying these costs to non citizens, is why when Canadian citizenship should come first?

The MPP responsible for the Ministry of Community and Social Services is James J. Bradley, MPP  mailto:jbradley.mpp@liberal.ola.org

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/local/article/705387--city-province-in-spat-over-welfare-costs

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http://www.toronto.ca/socialservices/healthcosts.htm

http://www.accesson.ca/en/mcss/programs/social/ow/

http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas and an Exciting, Active and Healthy Holiday Season to All Who Celebrate Same in Their Personal Way.

 

Hanukkah  2010  December 1-9

Hanukkah which this year started on December 1, is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas.

With many Jewish people living in predominately Christian societies, over time Hanukkah has become much more festive and Christmas-like.

Jewish children receive gifts for Hanukkah – often one gift for each of the eight nights of the holiday. Many parents hope that by making Hanukkah extra special their children won't feel left out of all the Christmas festivities going on around them.

Christmas 2010 December 25

Around about 400 AD, Christians started celebrating the birth of Jesus. 'Christ' means 'Messiah' or 'Anointed One' - the title given to Jesus - and 'Mass' was a religious festival.

Unfortunately in most of the world today, the real meaning of Christmas is often forgotten. It has become a non-religious holiday!

More children believe in Santa Claus or Father Christmas than in Jesus. Christmas Day has become a time of exchanging gifts and for eating, drinking too much and watching television.

To find  the real Christmas story it can be found in the Christian Bible. It is told in two different books, Matthew and Luke chapters 1 and 2.

By reading the story of the birth of Jesus and seeing how Christians celebrate Christmas today you will see that unfortunately they do not seem to have many connections in  Christian society to day.

Our Toronto City Council Should Implement a Zero Based Budgeting Process for 2011 ?

 I strongly believe Mayor Rob Ford and his new administration can come in with No tax Increases for 2011 and replenish the city reserve funds if.....

He insists that a zero base budgeting process be put in place for all city departments, services, commissions and programs for 2011 and beyond immediately.

A zero-based budgeting process requires that the existence of a government services and programs be justified in each fiscal year, as opposed to simply basing budgeting decisions on a previous year’s funding level.  As such it would force all city departments, commissions etc. to assign every dollar of income to an expense (or savings) category.

This ZBBP puts the burden of proof on the Commissioner and managers and demands that each justify the entire budget in detail and prove why he or she should spend the taxpayers money in the manner proposed. As In zero-based budgeting, each dollar spent by management must be justified with a detailed account of what will be spent

Do We Canadians Have a Right to Know How Much Time Our Civil Servants Spend on Social Media Sites While Working on Our Dime and Supposedly for Us?

                                                                                  

Studies show us that the cost of illegal use of Internet access by employees from corporations or governments based on 1,000 employees is $36 MILLION or more annually in lost productivity for one hour of such daily illegal web surfing by civil servants or other employees.

Statistics relating to employee computer and Internet abuse are alarming and should be of great concern not only to corporations but also to our elected representatives of the government.


How do our elected representatives who are supposedly in charge of looking after our tax dollars, in a prudent manner, continue to allow such unnecessary costs and abuse by civil servants unabated and without termination procedures in place.


Such flagrant disregard for taxpayers’ money is itself a breach of trust by our politicians.


Please take the time to read more about such facts @ http://www.snapshotspy.com/employee-computer-abuse-statistics.htm for future reference.

Our government has spent millions of our tax dollars arguing that taxpayers have no right to know how much time civil servants spend on social media sites, sports and entertainment websites or trying to access websites that show porn or promote “Racism and Hate” or “Drugs.”

The Toronto Stars' recent article @ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/896435--civil-servants-internet-habits-kept-secret-from-taxpayers confirms such a waste and abuse of our tax dollars and the fact that our government continues to hide such information from us, the ones paying the bills.

When it involves public service work habits, public funds, transparency and openness must prevail.

The refusal to make public the Internet habits of our civil servants is a shady one at best.

Elected representatives, with such nonsensical, irresponsible and undemocratic approaches, deserve to be kicked out of office as such actions are not consistent with open and honest public service or a government that works for the people.

Let’s hear from you the ones having to foot the bill for such abuse by our civil servants.


More fact sources @ http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/social-networking-costs-uk-businesses-22-2-billion-87716